Cool Spring Could Hurt Your Harvest
We haven’t visited the vegetable garden in a long time, and judging from mine, I am not sure I want to. The cool spring coupled with a so far so-so summer has been playing havoc on the warm season crops. These guys prefer their feet in toasty soil and the sun beating down on their backs - and fronts, for that matter. There is one positive aspect: the garden does seem to be GREEN, albeit without many blossoms or fruit.
Asparagus: By this time, the asparagus patch should look like a 3-foot cloud of fluff. Those ferny stalks add to the strength of the roots for next year’s crop production. Leave these wispy ferns until they turn yellow in the late fall. At that time, cut them to the ground and compost them. This last-minute chore may save your crop from asparagus beetle attack next summer.
Beans: If your beans aren’t doing much, it’s a sure bet the culprit is the weather. Many plants didn’t get off to a good start this spring because of cold soil. Their lack of vigor has left them susceptible to anthracnose (black, sunken spots on the beans, stems and leaves), bacterial blight (small, dead spots with yellow halos) and powdery mildew (white fuzzy covering on leaves). Of course, these are only three of a host of diseases that can attack beans. All three of these diseases are difficult to control.
On the bright side, if you can call it a bright side, plants that are producing beans will produce bushel baskets-full each day if they are continually harvested. It doesn’t take long to outgrow the enthusiasm of harvesting beans.
Cucumbers: It’s not surprising if these fellows are having a difficult time. They are truly a hot season crop. I’ve seen tattered leaves, sparse blossoms, blossom drop, anthracnose, mildew, bacterial blight or just plain tiny little plants. Hopefully, warmer weather will put an end to many of these problems. It wouldn’t be summer without a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced onions marinated in Italian dressing.
Tomatoes: My tomato plants are doing great - tall, bushy and green. Judging from the size of the tomatoes, though, BLT’s may not be served until Thanksgiving. I suppose I could make up a BLT with Sweet 100s. I wonder how many that would take, sliced.
Tomatoes can be forced into ripening by stressing them - taking the water away until the plant begins to wilt and/or cutting a few roots. However, these techniques are not advisable yet. If you stop watering or sever roots now, you may wind up with a ripe tomato, but one with a condition called blossom end-rot. Keep the plants well watered for now and pray for heat.
New potatoes are wonderful right now. Simply loosen the soil with a spading fork around the perimeter of the plant and let your fingers wander in the loosened soil. Dozens of these tiny morsels can be harvested without disturbing the plant. The remaining potatoes will grow into large keepers.
Soon the potato plant itself will yellow and wilt to the ground. (The stems of onions and garlic will also fall to the ground.) Stop watering at that time. If you overhead water, cover your patch with a piece of plastic. If potatoes are watered heavily after they have stopped growing, they may become knobby; onions tend to rot.
Peppers: It’s surprising, but the peppers seem to be adapting themselves to this yo-yo weather. The plants are full and the fruit is setting. Usually pepper plants that have been affected by the cold have a difficult time recovering.
Since these southern plants really like it hot, plastic mulches can fill the bill, especially brown polyethylene. Peppers also benefit greatly from a shot of magnesium - one tablespoon of Epsom salts to a gallon of water will do.
Squash plants look good. We’ll simply have to keep our fingers crossed for a long fall.
Carrots are doing great as expected - after all, what could go wrong with carrots?
All in all, I wish the flowers were doing as well as the veggies. Ah well, win some, lose some.
Gardening convention
The national convention of the Gardeners of America will be here in Spokane next week, July 31 to Aug. 3, at the Ridpath Hotel. It’s being hosted by the Gardeners of Spokane. Some seminars, on such topics as judging, benches and birdhouses, propagation, shade gardening, planting trees and shrubs, insect control and water gardening, are open to the public, but there is a fee. Call 928-6162 for more information.
Phyllis Stephens is a horticultural consultant and landscape designer in Spokane.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review